Confirmation Hearings Schedule
Now that the new Congress is underway, confirmation hearings are set to begin.
Thursday, Jan. 8
Tom Daschle for Health and Human Services secretary
Friday, Jan. 9
Rep. Hilda Solis for Labor
Tuesday, Jan. 14
Sen. Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State
Peter Orszag for Office of Management of Budget
Arne Duncan for Education
Steve Chu for Energy
Lisa Jackson for Environmental Protection Agency
Wednesday, Jan. 14
Eric Shinseki for Veterans Affairs
Orszag (Day 2)
Thursday, Jan. 15
Eric Holder for Attorney General
Timothy Geithner for Treasury
Janet Napolitano for Homeland Security
Sen. Ken Salazar for Interior
Susan Rice for U.S. Ambassador to the UN
The only one that promises drama is Eric Holder’s hearing, just because Arlen Specter feels like it is his duty to be an ass over President Clinton’s pardons 8 years ago. What will take the winds out of Arlen’s sails is that President Bush will be making his last minute pardons just after the hearing, and methinks they will make Clinton’s Rich pardon look saintly.
The Toussie pardon has already made Bush and his team of clowns look silly. The Republicans are going back to their tried and true methods – Clinton-bashing from the 90s. It’s true that the Rich pardon makes Holder look bad, but seriously, they want to talk about Elian Gonzalez?
There’s one other hearing that may be contentious. I hear a wingnut subset is fired up about Perielli, who was one of Michael Schiavo’s lawyers. Do they want to refight that one as well?